England laboured to a disappointing 1-1 draw, with Gareth Southgate replacing his most creative player just eight minutes into the second half.
The Three Lions missed the chance to qualify for the knockout stages after a poor performance, which saw Harry Kane’s opener cancelled out by a brilliant strike from outside the box by Morten Hjulmand.
It was a second consecutive lacklustre performance following an uninspired showing against Serbia, which will leave Southgate facing serious questions about his side.
Southgate removed England’s most creative player
England went with an unchanged line-up from the opening win against Serbia, which meant Trent Alexander-Arnold continuing in midfield alongside Declan Rice.
The balance of the team looked off, and the midfield was overrun on a number of occasions with Christian Eriksen dominating proceedings.
The Alexander-Arnold experiment doesn’t appear to be working and he was once again subbed off, this time just eight minutes into the second half, with Conor Gallagher replacing him.
It wasn’t a good performance from the Liverpool ace, but a surprising stat emerged after the game that he was in fact England’s most creative player, with no one else creating more chances.
No player created more chances for England today than Trent Alexander-Arnold ?
He came off after 54 minutes… ? pic.twitter.com/hnUuiGU1v8
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 20, 2024
It would be a surprise if Southgate continued with the 25-year-old alongside Declan Rice given he’s now twice been the first player subbed off.
The England manger admitted after the game playing Alexander-Arnold in midfield was an experiment, which begs the question as to why he’s experimenting in a major tournament.
“He’s had some moments where he’s delivered what we thought he would,” he told BBC One.
“We know it’s an experiment. We know we don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Philips.
“We’re trying different things and at the moment we’re not flowing as we’d like.”
England round out their group stage campaign against Slovenia on Tuesday, knowing they must put in an improved performance and take some momentum into the knockout stages.
Why are we experimenting at this stage of a tournament? So many friendliest to try this. Also the players have to take some of the blame. If Rio Ferdinand can see Phil Foden in open positions and not getting any service then why can’t Southgate? TTA has always been able to forward focus and place the ball on a penny piece. The rare times he does not manage to do this he is severely criticised. Let the lad see the game out he will be the difference IF the other players do their part